Richard Anthony Harrison MBE FRAS FInstP is the Head of Space Physics Division and Chief Scientist at the

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) is one of the national scientific research laboratories in the UK operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). It began as the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory, merged with the At ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. He is best known for his magnetic twisting theory involving the coronal heating problem of the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

. He was born in

Solihull Solihull ( ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe in the Arden, Warwickshire, Forest of Arden ar ...

West Midlands (County) West Midlands is a Metropolitan county, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the larger West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of England. A landlocked county, it is bordered by Staffordshire to the north ...

and attended Solihull Sixth Form College and

Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

. Whilst in his late teens, and as a keen acoustic guitarist, he set up a band called

Capella Capella is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Auriga. It has the Bayer designation α Aurigae, which is Latinisation of names, Latinised to Alpha Aurigae and abbreviated Alpha Aur or α Aur. Capella is the lis ...

. Fellow band members were his brother, Jeremy, and David J Nutting. They performed locally and were influenced by

John Denver Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American Country music, country and Folk music, folk singer, songwriter, and actor. He was one of the most popular acoustic m ...

and

The Eagles The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles, six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s in ...

, amongst others. Richard Harrison received his B.Sc in 1979 and his Ph.D. in 1983 from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. He then became SER (Research Fellow at the Space Research Department, University of Birmingham, and from 1986 Scientific Officer up to grade 7 of the Astrophysics division of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. From 1985-1986 he was visiting Scientists at the HAO in Boulder, United States. His main interest has been solar physics research, and he was instigator of the first multi-observatory observation of coronal mass ejections, joint leader at the 81.5 MHz radio array at Cambridge, principal scientists for the first mm observations of the Sun and principal investigator of the Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer on SOHO. Moreover, he has been associated with several other experiments on the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) as well as on the solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). He has been author or co-author of more than 70 articles published in international journals and books. Richard Harrison served as Editor of the Society's journal Annales Geophysicae and as General Editor for the COSPAR Information Bulletin as well as member of several committees related to the Royal Society and to ESA, COSPAR or EGS. Richard Harrison was awarded the NCAR Outstanding Publication Prize and the

NASA Group Achievement Award The NASA Group Achievement Award (GAA) is an award given by NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the U ...

, and he is Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, Member of the International Astronomical Union and Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Astronautics. He was awarded the MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to Solar Research.

In popular media

Harrison appeared in a

Horizon (BBC TV series) ''Horizon'' is an ongoing and long-running British documentary television series on BBC Two that covers science and philosophy. History The programme was first broadcast on 2 May 1964 with "The World of Buckminster Fuller", which explored the th ...

TV program, Secrets of the Star Disc, in 2004. Harrison was also acknowledged in the credits to

Wonders of the Solar System ''Wonders of the Solar System'' is a 2010 television series co-produced by the BBC and Science Channel, and hosted by physicist Brian Cox (physicist), Brian Cox. ''Wonders of the Solar System'' was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Tw ...

: Empire of the Sun, 2010, a BBC TV series.

References

External links

Coronal heating problem

A Day In The Life Of Richard Harrison

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Richard British space scientists Living people Fellows of the Institute of Physics Members of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of the University of Birmingham People from Solihull Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society Year of birth missing (living people)